Maybe its just me but it appears attendance overall is down. MLB has to do something to fix it. Eliminating inter-league play completely is a mistake. I would rather they go this route:

-NL adopt DH (league needs universal rules plus pitcher safety in regards to contracts)
-Add 2 teams
-Have 2 8-team divisions in each league based on geography (ex AL-1: Sox, Cubs, Brewers, Twins, Cards, Royals, Reds, Indians)
-Scheduling- You play the other divisions equilavent from previous season 6 times (all the last place teams, all the 1st place etc etc) you play the other division's teams in your league 3 times, the rest are against your division. RIVALRIES BUILD INTEREST AND MONEY not to mention having such close traveling as often will increase attendance due to visiting fans.

I don't want to see any expansion teams and I don't think the market is currently out there for them. I also would like to see the historical leagues stay in place as separate conferences. Besides that, I love this idea.

Put Milwaukee in a division in the A.L. with the Sox and I dont care what the schedule looks like. (Yea I do like Miller Park and going up there to watch Sox games)

Most Brewer fans prefer the NL style of play and the rivalries that have finally started to bud with the Cardinals and Cubs. Besides this is the longest stretch of the same divisional opponents the brewers have played since they were in the AL East in the 70s and 80s. Most Brewer fans under the age of 25 don't remember the AL days.

Do you recall the Lockout? This is why this year, unlike a normal year, there was no interconference games. Had this been a full season, there might have been one or two Hawks/Buins games (I don't have the original schedule to look up), not to mention common opponents.

I am well aware of the reason why the Hawks and Bruins didn't play each other this year. I spent October through January basically checking NHL.com hourly to see if a deal had been reached. I was commenting on one of the side effects.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eriqjaffe

With the AL & NL each having 15 teams now, the only way to ditch interleague play would be to have a team in each league idle for 3 or 4 days at all times during the season.

Obviously, that isn't an option, which is why I also suggested eliminating the Rays and Marlins. Too bad the Rays are so well-run; that will make them harder to get rid of. In fact, I believe the only reason the Marlins are still around is that there hasn't been a logical partner for them to go out with since the Twins started to become relevant again in about 2001. I do think the Rays will end up moving though. Crappy stadium, hardly any fans, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoxFanCPA

And the Bulls should never play the Lakers, and the Hawks should never play the Penguins, and the Bears should never play the Colts.

It'd be stupid to NOT have interleague play.

I dunno, it worked pretty well for about 97 years. And no one said any of the other sports should do it. Baseball is not football, basketball, or hockey.

Most Brewer fans prefer the NL style of play and the rivalries that have finally started to bud with the Cardinals and Cubs. Besides this is the longest stretch of the same divisional opponents the brewers have played since they were in the AL East in the 70s and 80s. Most Brewer fans under the age of 25 don't remember the AL days.

It's too bad that MLB never gave a Twins-Brewers-White Sox-Tigers rivalry a chance to form. The Brewers and Sox shared the same division for only a few short seasons from 1994-97 and these 4 teams have never been in the same division. This alignment could have liked to see an baseball version of the NFC North plus Cleveland.

I think the "NL style of play" preference is overrated and will eventually go away because I think the DH will eventually be adopted league-wide.

But, yeah, there's no way in hell that the Brewers would want to move back to the AL at this point. They're better off with the big-fanbase Cubs and Cardinals as their rivals.

The White Sox are one team that has gotten the short end of the stick in the division era. They were stuck in the AL West for years with teams like distant Oakland and Kansas City as their rivals. While not being able to form a rivalry with Detroit or Milwaukee. At least Minnesota has always been in the same division with us. When the Sox moved to the AL Central, at first Detroit remained in the East and then they only came over when Milwaukee left.

Things may have been better for the Sox if Kansas City didn't refuse the first offer to move to the NL in 1998.

I dunno, it worked pretty well for about 97 years. And no one said any of the other sports should do it. Baseball is not football, basketball, or hockey.

Pretty well, but not nearly as well as interleague has worked. The fans never having access to watch half of the teams in the league is flat out dumb. There is no argument the other direction. And to be honest, they need more of it. I'm so tired of playing KC 18 times.